New Mountain Capital exited its investment in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania-based Lincoln Investment, returning full ownership of the RIA and broker-dealer to the Forst family that founded it in 1968 and advisor shareholders, the companies announced on Wednesday.
New Mountain, an investment firm with about $60 billion in assets under management (AUM), invested in Lincoln Investment in 2020. The companies said the investment was followed by changes to Lincoln Investment’s operating platform and leadership team.
During the partnership, New Mountain worked with Lincoln Investment’s management team, and Lincoln Investment expanded its technology infrastructure.
During the partnership with New Mountain, Lincoln Investment increased fee-based assets about 75% and total client assets grew to about $63 billion in fee-based and brokerage assets, the companies said.
Lincoln Investment also appointed Kathy Leckey as CEO in June and added other executives as part of an executive succession plan.
The latest “milestone reflects the progress our team has made in building a more modern, scalable platform for our advisors and clients,” Leckey said in a press release.
She added, “With New Mountain’s investment, partnership, and strategic guidance, we strengthened our technology, expanded our capabilities, and positioned the business for continued growth.”
“New Mountain has been a valued partner to Lincoln Investment,” Ed Forst, Executive Chairman of Lincoln Investment, said in the release. “Their support helped us advance important investments in our platform.”
Forst added, “We are grateful for their partnership and excited to begin this next chapter as a fully independent, advisor- and family-owned firm.”
“We are proud of the role New Mountain played in supporting Lincoln Investment and the Forst family through a pivotal chapter in the Company’s history,” Pete Masucci, Managing Director at New Mountain, said in the release.
Robert Roberts, Managing Director at New Mountain, added, “Working alongside the management team, we helped position the Company for further growth while investing in the technology and infrastructure needed to serve a growing base of advisors and clients.”
Ropes & Gray served as legal counsel to New Mountain and Morgan Lewis & Bockius served as legal counsel to Lincoln Investment.
Lincoln Investment recruited Financial Advisors Curtis Wilcox and Paul Niemiec to its broker-dealer and RIA platform, announced March 30. The pair do business as Blue Harbor Wealth Management and they joined from Corebridge Financial, where it reported advising on about $250 million in client assets.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jeff.berman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
